


Heart-to-Heart

by CactusPot



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Late Night Conversations, One Shot, Playa Des Losers, TDWriMo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28241112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CactusPot/pseuds/CactusPot
Summary: “Kinda wish I’d quit earlier,” Anne Maria commented after a particularly big gulp. “This place has got it goin’ on.”“It’s definitely nicer than camp,” Brick said. “I’m glad you’re taking this situation in stride.”‘Yeah, well, I guess it was a matter of time. I ain’t cut out for another week of this. ‘Specially if my nails were on the line!” She wiggled her fingers to off her fuchsia manicure, impressively unchipped after a week on the island. That was probably her biggest accomplishment.A beat passed, and Anne Maria arched her eyebrow. “But what about you, doll? I screwed up, and that’s on me, but I know you ain’t here by your own choice.”
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Heart-to-Heart

Sam opened the door for them. “Hey, Brick, sorry you got—wait, there’s _two_ of you? How did that happen?”

“Long story.” Anne Maria stepped inside, her ‘diamond’ tucked underneath one arm.

After the other eliminated contestants gathered in the foyer, Brick and Anne Maria took turns describing the challenge. Staci, B, Dawn, Sam—jeez, Anne Maria realized suddenly, she was the first Mutant Maggot eliminated. Unless you counted Brick, but he’d been swapped to the other team so he was technically a Rat. Still, this was kinda embarrassing.

When Anne Maria got to the part about Chris and the cubic zirconia, she passed it over to B. A thumbs up confirmed that their sweet ol’ host hadn’t been lying about its worthlessness.

“Well what’m I supposed to do with this?” she demanded after B passed it back to her.

“My great uncle Peter invented the first mine,” Staci said. “Before him, people just dug holes until they found minerals, yah?”

That didn’t answer Anne Maria’s question. So she kept the zirconia with her when Dawn took them upstairs to the east wing and showed them their bedrooms in the east wing—guys on the right side, girls on the left. Anne Maria’s room was third down, next to Dawn’s and across from Brick’s.

Anne Maria dumped the zirconia on the nightstand and scoured the room for somethin’ useful. No spray-tan, no hair-spray, no sprays of any kind. Only thing she found was a t-shirt hangin’ in the empty closet, a white one that said “I survived Total Drama” in red lettering. She tugged it on. It was snug, but she could use it as a pajama top until someone—Chris or Chef or an intern—could swing by with her luggage.

It was kinda weird to think about her makeup products, unsupervised with Zoey in the Maggot cabin. Anne Maria pursed her lips just thinkin’ about it. _Well, look at the bright side: if a lip gloss or two goes missin’, I know who to blame_. Not that Princess Goody-goody looked like the type to steal. But ya never knew.

Anyways, Anne Maria flipped through channels on the room’s TV until she got bored, which was pretty fast; nothing good was on tonight.

So she did the only other thing she could do: got up, walked ten feet across the hall, and knocked on Brick’s door.

He opened it almost immediately. “Ma’am?”

Anne Maria tossed her head in the direction of the stairwell. “Wanna go find the kitchen? I could use a bite to eat.”

It didn’t take too long to find the kitchen, even with the tons of rooms and the windin’ hallways. But then again, Anne Maria’d always had a killer sense of direction. That’s what she got for growin’ up in cities.

Anne Maria and Brick dug around the cupboards, chattin’ while they did. She found several packets of hot cocoa—not McLean brand, thank goodness. McLean’s hot cocoa sucked.

Brick offered to help make the hot chocolate. Anne Maria almost said no—she wasn’t no damsel in distress, thank you very much—but the subdued look in his eyes changed her mind. _Guy needs a distraction_.

A few minutes later, the microwave beeped, and out came their drinks. They sat at the island in the center of the kitchen and drank from their mugs together. It was just like the day she and Brick had started to actually become friends, right after they’d won the reward from the snow fort challenge—right after she’d met Vito for the first time. 

“Kinda wish I’d quit earlier,” Anne Maria commented after a particularly big gulp. “This place has got it goin’ on.”

“It’s definitely nicer than camp,” Brick said. “I’m glad you’re taking this situation in stride.”

‘Yeah, well, I guess it was a matter of time. I ain’t cut out for another week of this. ‘Specially if my nails were on the line!” She wiggled her fingers to off her fuchsia manicure, impressively unchipped after a week on the island. That was probably her biggest accomplishment.

A beat passed, and Anne Maria arched her eyebrow. “But what about you, doll? I screwed up, and that’s on me, but I know you ain’t here by your own choice.”

“I thought I was doing well,” Brick admitted. “But then Jo teamed up with Lightning. That was a blindside.” He stared intently at his hot cocoa. “I mean, we were on the Maggots together. Doesn’t that count for something?”

Anne Maria snorted at the absurdity. “I don’t think anything counts to her. Blondie needs to fix her attitude. Sure, Lightning’s hot and all”—she ignored Brick’s quizzical look—“but anyone with workin’ eyes can see you’re a team player, and that counts for a lot.”

Brick chuckled. “You sure know how to flatter a guy.”

“It’s true, ain’t it? You’re a sweetie.” She elbowed him amicably. By no means was Brick one of her closest friends, but in the six days since they’d met, Anne Maria’d decided she liked him a lot. Like a brother. No, less like a brother and more like a cousin the same age as her.

Of course Brick, ever the gentleman, had to repay the compliment. “You played well too, Anne Maria. It’s a shame Chris court-martialed you.”

“Yea, well, like I said. Water over the bridge an’ all that.” An image of Vito came to mind. She pushed it away, but it kept popping back up as she finished her hot cocoa. Vito. Zoey. Mike.

“There is one thing.” She pushed her empty cocoa mug away and looked down at her empty hands. “I’m not gettin’ with Vito, am I?”

It was a sappy question. Brick hadn’t even been on the team with them, in the end. He hadn’t seen how crazy things had gotten since the last time Vito showed up. Still, Brick took his time responding. She could practically see him arranging the thoughts in his head. He was tryin’ so hard to be respectful, bless his heart.

“I don’t think it’s my place to make assumptions about Zoey or Mike or Mike’s Vito character,” Brick said at last.

“Well they’re on the island now, without me. And I know Scott or Jo or Cam ain’t gonna be chaperonin’ them.”

“That’s truly an unfortunate situation. Sorry, Anne Maria.”

On the tip of her tongue balanced words as harsh as Jo’s—harsher, even. Anne Maria was ready to say every pissy thought she’d ever had about Zoey. Red wasn’t entitled to Mike. Anne Maria could kiss Vito if she wanted and Zoey needed to mind her dang business about it.

But she swallowed her insults, ‘cause Brick was friends with both her and Zoey. Anne Maria could be a jerk to Zoey, but she wouldn’t be a jerk to Brick and put him in that situation.

“I’ll meet another guy, I guess,” she said instead. “Or not. It ain’t the end of the world.” Yes, if she had the chance, she’d snap up Vito in a heartbeat. But her chances with Vito were the same as her chance of winnin a million dollars—zero.

All of a sudden, the kitchen door flung open. Chef barrelled in, holding a stew pot and ruining the moment.

“D’you _mind_?” Anne Maria demanded. “I’m havin’ a heart-to-heart with Brick here!”

Chef set his pot down on the stove and glared down at them. “Where’s Sam?”

“Sam?” She exchanged a glance with Brick.

“Why do you need Sam, sir?” Brick asked.

“Noneya business!” Chef barked. “I got a special meal for him, courtesy of Chris.”

“Do _we_ get meals?” Anne Maria asked. “You kicked us off the island before dinner. Hey, and what about my hairsprays? When do I get those back?”

Chef huffed. “Tell ya what. You bring Sam to the kitchen, and I’ll bring your luggage tonight instead of tomorrow morning.”

Anne Maria smiled. “Now you’re talkin’.”

She and Brick tracked down Sam in the movie theater—yes, the Playa had a movie theater—and brought him back to Chef. And ‘cause the kitchen was occupied now, they didn’t stick around.

“I hope Chef doesn’t poison Sam,” Brick said.

“That would suck,” Anne Maria agreed. They passed by the movie theater again, and she grabbed his arm. “Ay, wanna watch a movie?”

“Now?”

“Sure. We ain’t got anything better to do.” Plus, it’d be a distraction, even if she’d mostly made peace with the whole no-Vito no-million situation. “We can invite Dawn and B. Heck, even Staci, as long as someone slaps duct tape over her mouth.”

So they split up to find the other kids. And maybe, Anne Maria thought, things would work out okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I think you form a special bond with a person after a crazy host dude flings you both out of a catapult at a billion miles an hour. Chris did Brick and Anne Maria so dirty smh.
> 
> This week's TDWriMo theme was 'deleted scenes', which includes everything we didn't see at Playa Des Losers.


End file.
